Divination Practices and Importance in Ancient Civilizations

By: Jonathan Normington

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Divination as a practice has been present in nearly every major recorded civilization from

the Chaldean’s use of constellations to predict the future (c. 1000 BCE), 1 the Egyptian practice

of interpreting dreams (2000 BCE),2 and the Oracle of Delphi in Ancient Greece (1400 BCE)3.

The use of oracle bones in Ancient China and the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BCE)4 was very

important for those cultures. These are just a few examples of the many different time periods

and practices that were used to divine the future.

Divination can be generally split into two separate methodologies, those being prophecy

and extispicy5. Prophecy is the school of divination in which the practitioner gains information

directly from some outside source like a deity. Extispicy operates by looking at real world

phenomenon like bones, stars, or entrails called auspices or omens and interpreting those to gain

insight on the future. However, in almost all forms of extispicy the oracle is still receiving

messages from some mystical power. For example, the Shang oracle bones were said to be

manipulated by their ancestral spirits to form the messages that they got; therefore, extispicy and

prophecy are combined.

The Shang Dynasty is widely known by historians specifically for its oracle bone

practices. The Shang Dynasty’s expansion and spread of ideas greatly influenced its

1
Marcus Tullius Cicero, and Hubert McNeill Poteat, 1950. Brutus, On the Nature of the
Gods, On Divination, On Duties, Translated by Hubert M. Poteat, with an Introd. by Richard
McKeon, Translated by Hubert McNeill Poteat. “Chicago: University of Chicago Press”, p. 338.
2
Naphtali Lewis, 1976, The Interpretation of Dreams and Portents / Naphtali Lewis.
Toronto; Stevens, p. 7.
3
Mark Cartwright, “Delphi”, World History Encyclopedia, February 22, 2013,
https://www.worldhistory.org/delphi/ pra. 2.
4
Emily Mark, “Oracle Bones”, World History Encyclopedia, February 26, 2016,
https://www.worldhistory.org/Oracle_Bones/, pra. 1.
5
Julie B. Deluty 2020. “Prophecy in the Ancient Levant and Old Babylonian Mari.”
“Religion Compass” 14 (6). https://doi.org/10.1111/rec3.12351, p. 2.
 Normington 2

surroundings. With the change in territory from the transition to the next Chinese dynasties and

increasing interaction with other peoples through trade, the people from the areas could further

implement Shang concepts into their own societies; therefore, it is highly possible that the

practice of using oracle bones to learn of the future influenced other ancient civilizations.

Oracle Bones were a method of fortune-telling used in the Shang Dynasty which was a

subset of osteomancy, or the use of bones to foretell the future.6 Through these practices the

diviners received questions then carve symbols onto an oxen bone (as seen in Figure 1 of the

Appendix), typically the shoulder bone, a tortoise shell (as seen in Figure 2 of the Appendix), or

a turtle shell. The diviner then made a hole in the shell/bone and placed a hot stone inside.

Following this, it would be put next to or inside a small fire until a significant crack appeared. At

that point the oracle would look at how the crack interacted with the symbols carved and

interpret the cracks as a message form their ancestral spirits informing them of what actions

should be taken or the events that will happen in the future.7 This practice was used widely in the

Shang Dynasty; so much so that the king was called the ‘Head Diviner’ and practiced this

method as well.8 It was so important to the Shang that oracle bone divination had become

formalized across the nation9. The formal practices did not reach all across the kingdom, but the

official manual on the interpretation of oracle bones was widely accepted and implemented by

diviners.

The most obvious influence that the Shang had in divination practices is the other east

Asian civilizations, like their successor dynasty the Zhou. While it is certainly less common than
6
Rowan K. Flad, “Divination and Power: A Multiregional View of the Development of
Oracle Bone Divination in Early China.”, “Current Anthropology 49, no. 3 (2008): 403–37”,
https://doi.org/10.1086/588495, p. 404.
7
Mark, “Oracle Bones”, pra. 2, 4.
8
Mark, “Oracle Bones”, pra. 15.
9
Rowan K. Flad, p. 411.
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the Shang, there is still archeological evidence of oracle bones dating to the Zhou Dynasty

between 1046 and 771 BCE. Not only that, but Zhou Oracle Bones have been found in nearly

every one of their major cities10. There are not many differences in the Zhou and Shang practices,

with exact similarities in some regards. The Zhou tended more towards turtle plastrons than the

oxen shoulder bones that were the staple of the Shang, but they carved the hole used for heating

the bone in identical ways for most of the Zhou dynasty. With the rising symbolic importance of

turtles as one of the Four Auspicious Beasts of Ancient Chinese religion, using their shells gave

more credence to the diviners magical practice. Even disregarding the near identical

methodologies of the two Dynasty’s divination and their similar population and cultures, there is

obvious influence in how the diviners were treated. In the Shang Dynasty, as stated above, not

only were normal practioners given high standing in the social classes of the time, but the king

was deemed the Head Diviner. In the Zhou dynasty this was less common; however, a political

leader would often keep a personal diviner on hand, and the use of turtle shells made many

regard oracle bone diviners as above them.11 From the Zhou Dynasty until the early Han Dynasty

oracle bones spread throughout most of modern-day China, all originating from the proliferation

of the practice by the Shang.

What we know of Egyptian divination is far less in depth both due to the age of the

civilization and the heavy prevalence of other archeologically more useful areas of study. Oracle

bones maintain to be functionally the only information historians have on the Shang Dynasty but

interest in Egypt, both culturally and scientifically, contributed to more discoveries and time

spent researching their artefacts and surroundings. The main way that the ancient Egyptians

practiced divination was through dreams. This method was very popular in many ancient

10
Flad, p. 414.
11
Flad, p. 415.
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civilizations and interpreted a person’s dreams as omens of the future. In Ancient Egypt this was

typically done by a practitioner to another person’s dreams. The oldest record of this is The

Egyptian Dream Book which is dated as early as 2000 BCE12. This book was literally a simple

list of things that can happen in dreams and what that represents as a portent for the future. An

example is “If a man see himself is a dream…a bow in his hand. Good; his important office will

be given to him” (The Egyptian Dream Book, circa 2000BCE)13. This is very similar to how the

Shang Oracle bones are perceived by their diviner. However instead of cracks made in the

carvings, the Egyptians used events in a dream. At the heart of it both seem entirely unrelated to

the actual events of the future but are simply a medium for which an outside power could

communicate future events to them. Not only that but with Egyptian divination being accepted as

something to see the future of government offices, the Egyptians must have held it in similar

regard as the Shang, who saw their king as the Head Diviner.

The problem with this relation between these two seems geographically impossible.

These two regions are about four thousand miles apart; without a dominant trade route like the

Silk Road, used from just before the first century BCE to the Middle Ages, trade between the

Shang and Egypt seems unlikely. However, it is not without precedent. There have been traces of

Chinese silk found in Egypt that are dated all the way to 1070 BCE14. This allows for the

possibility that there was at least to a minor extent a transmission of goods, and therefore a

possibility of cultural translocation. 1060 BCE and 2000BCE is a significant gap but with the

delicate nature of silk and the decaying conditions of the Egyptian desert, it is not improbable

12
Lewis, p. 7.
13
Lewis, p. 7.
14
Robert L. Tignor, Jeremy Adelman, Elizabeth Pollard, Clifford Rosenberg, Worlds
Together, Worlds Apart: A History of the World from the Mongol Empire to the Present / Robert
Tignor [and Others], “2nd ed. New York, N.Y.; W.W. Norton, 2008”, p. 278.
 Normington 5

that trade had existed between the area that would become the Shang Kingdom and Egypt for

longer. The Egyptian Dream Book of course predates the Shang Dynasty by nearly 400 years as

the Shang took power around 1600 BCE, but oracle bones did not originate with the Shang

dynasty. There have been more primitive oracle bones found in the geographical are of modern-

day China that date all the way back to 3321 BC with a confidence interval of 179 years.15 This

means that while it might not have been the Shang dynasty’s equivalent of the practice, oracle

bones and or knowledge of them could have bridged the gap between these two nations despite

being countless miles apart.

The Ancient Greeks are well known for their divination practices by both historians, who

learned from studies of the Greeks, and many people in general, learning from pop culture

references. The Greeks had a wide variety of different methods of divination in both prophecy

and extispicy. While the Oracle of Delphi is the most commonly known method of Greek

divination, there are many other ways that they developed thoroughly to foresee the future. An

important aspect to multiple forms of Greek divination is the sanctity of water. They generally

believed that water be it in springs, rivers, or seas was sacred and by drinking it or bathing in it

the Greeks believed they could attain a small amount of divinity. This is shown in the tale of

Achilles with his mother bathing him in the river Styx so he could gain invincibility and with the

Oracle at Delphi drinking water from the spring Kassotis, which was believed to be what granted

the priestess her prophetic abilities.16 Much like the Shang politicians and royalty this was highly

sought out by the Ancient Greek kings to answer their questions about ruling.17

15
Flad, p. 408.
16
William Reginald Halliday, 1967, Greek Divination; a Study of Its Methods and
Principles, “[1st American ed.], Chicago: Argonaut”, p. 127.
17
Cicero, p. 355.
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One of the many methods of Greek divination was incubation, in which a person would

drink water from sacred springs in order to be granted prophetic dreams, often by Zeus. The

greater practice involved here is interpreting dreams in order to tell the future much like the

Egyptians did and is a common method of extispicy throughout history. The Greeks in particular

believed that these dreams were granted by spirits of the dead or by their gods. Most often the

dead soul in particular would have a familial relation to the dreamer similar to the Ancestor

Spirits of the Shang.18

The other primary method of water-based divination is that of lecanomancy, which is the

practice of foretelling the future via the reflection of water in some sort of vessel, often bowls, or

mirrors. There are two ways that this occurs. In one of them a pool of ink or water is set up and

when the ritual occurs, the diviner will drop a specific ritual item in it, often some sort of small

rock, and then analyze the ripples to determine what events are likely to occur. This is a form of

extispicy where the ripples of a liquid are analogous to the cracks in an oracle bone. The other

method involves the pool of water or a mirror and was a ritual that supposedly let you commune

with the dead or other spirits that then showed you the future. This second method was genuine

prophecy with no interpretation needed. The first method could have been born form the oracle

bones, just with a different medium, but it is unlikely that the second would have been. In

practice all extispicy is remarkably similar, the diviner will perform some sort of ritual and then

observe a natural event, or even just observe a natural event; then they determine the future

based entirely on how that event happened. Many of these practices claim an outside magical

influence was the reason it happened this way to gain credibility, but all of the fortune telling is

on their hands. The first method of lecanomancy mentioned is this sort of divination and thus

18
Halliday, p. 130.
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more likely to be descended from oracle bones which are also a form of extispicy. The second

method gets direct information from the spirit or deity and with no other significant similarity, it

is unlikely to be directly related to oracle bones. It is unknown which of the two practices of

lekanomancy was created earliest but it is possible the first method influenced the second.

Another common form of fortune telling in Ancient Greece is that of augury. In modern

terms this is used as a broader term for anyone who interprets omens and auspices; in Ancient

Greece this was a very specific practice, in which the augur would use the flight patterns and

calls of birds to interpret the future.19 Seeing birds coming into port was a sign of a dangerous sea

voyage.20 It was believed that birds at the time were gifted directions on how to act and were

thusly a medium of communication by the Olympian gods and is likely directly related to the

transformation of said gods into birds in Greek mythology.21 Augury was very popular in Greece

during the “heroic” age with fabled heroes like Teiresias and Melampus being prominent myths.

These two seers were believed to be gifted with a magical talent for augury and were thought to

understand a “language” that the birds spoke through their actions and calls.22 Though augury in

general is seen to be a mystical power there is also an amount of truth in it as it was used by the

Greeks to predict the weather with a high degree of accuracy, due to the migratory nature of

birds; which is commonly believed by historians to be the determining factor in the heavy

prevalence of augury in early Greece.23 When there is observable proof of birds flying away and

then winter coming it is entirely reasonable for an ancient society to believe that the birds had

some mystical power or were being influenced by a being that did. Augury is a method of

19
Halliday, p. 247.
20
Cicero, p. 351.
21
Halliday, p. 249, 259.
22
Halliday, p. 250.
23
Halliday, p. 259, 260.
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extispicy and its relationship to animals given cultural significance creates an obvious parallel to

oracle bones, especially the Zhou use of turtle shells, due to the religious symbolism of these

animals to their respective peoples. The use of bird’s actions would be the stand in for the way in

which the bones burn if Greek augury truly was inspired or influenced by the use of oracle

bones.

However, augury lost a majority of its relevancy to the most similar Greek method of

divination to oracle bones, examining sacrificed animal entrails.24 Generally, this was done by

killing a goat, lamb, or calf in sacrifice to one of or all of the Olympian gods in order to instill

the entrails with prophetic qualities. After the initial killing the diviner would cut open the belly

of the animal and analyze its organs to determine the future. An example fortune would be “a

liver without a lobe is a presage of disaster” (Halliday 1913, p. 193).25 The liver was the most

common piece examined due to the change it would undergo from disease and being thought to

be the source of life.26 This practice is nearly identical to oracle bone divination and not only that

but often the entrails were burned and the fortune telling came form viewing how they burned. If

the flames grew to great heights and burned through the sacrifice quickly, a victory in the near

future was certain.27 The power of the entrail divination also derives from the same concept. By

sacrificing something of great value, usually a food source for the Greeks but also a work animal

for the Shang, the body of said animal gains magical qualities.28 Not only that but many believed

in a separate explanation, that stated the fortune telling capabilities were derived from the soul

gaining prophetic powers as it left the body of the sacrifice, thus influencing the entrails to

24
Halliday, p. 249.
25
Halliday, p. 193.
26
Halliday, p. 198.
27
Halliday, p. 185.
28
Flad, p. 404.
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describe the future that it saw. This is very similar to the Shang ancestor spirit influencing the

way in which the bones burned. With both explanations the Greeks used being this close to the

Shang description of their practices, it is certain there was influence involved between the two.

Given the prevalent Greek influence on Roman culture and mythology, it is not

unexpected that their divination practices would be so similar. The primary accepted methods of

divination for the Romans were the consulting of auspices, like a bird’s flight, the examination of

sacrificed entrails, and the interpretation of dreams. In the early days of the Rome, many kings

employed augurs, and after the monarchy, there was supposedly no official business done by

anyone without an augur consulting the auspices.29 The Romans so whole heartedly believed in

this method that they refused to even due business transactions without first seeing what the

future held for them. Similarly, the Shang would often ask questions of whether or not they

should do simple business like sell their oxen at the market.30 In addition Romulus the

mythological founder of Rome was said to be a highly skilled augur31 much like the king of the

Shang being the Head Diviner. Roman animal sacrifice did not differ greatly from their Greek

counterparts. In Rome it was traditional for the oracle to actually slaughter the animal themselves

and after extracting the specific organs, being the liver, heart, gall bladder, lungs, and midriff,

they would inspect them for nay abnormalities. Following that, the entrails would be burned on

an offering alter. Based off of the previously mentioned inspections and the way in which they

burned the future was interpreted.32 If there were pieces missing of the entrails this would be seen

as an ill omen of the future.33 The similarities between this method and oracle bone divination

29
Cicero, p. 339.
30
Mark, “Oracle Bones”, pra. 6.
31
Cicero, p. 339.
32
Halliday, p. 194.
33
Halliday, p. 195.
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can be seen in the comparison between the Greek version in the previous paragraph. The Romans

also valued the interpretation of dreams immensely. When Tarquin the Proud had dreams of

sacrificing a ram and then being killed by its less appealing brother a diviner understood that to

mean he needed to be more cautious of things he would write off or he would be dethroned by

them.34 This was taken serious enough that when Quintus was arguing with Cicero on the

accuracy of divination, he wrote this off as an obvious point in his favor. Romans believed that

divination dreams were a way for gods to communicate indirectly to the human populace which

became a foundation of the Stoic idea that if divination exists so do gods and vice versa.35 This

method of divination is functionally identical to the Egyptian interpretation of dreams although

the two civilizations may have interpreted them differently. Both are forms of extispicy and

could have found their base in the fortune telling practices of East Asia.

The possibility of influence from China in Ancient Greece and Rome is simply not up to

debate. Regardless of the Silk Road itself which was established in 130 BCE, its predecessor, the

Persian Royal Road (c. 550-330 BCE) had established trade with the Mediterranean since the

late Zhou Dynasty.36 With the heavy influence of the Shang on the Zhou and the trade between

these civilizations it is nearly certain that reference to oracle bones had been filtering into the

Mediterranean for years. Once the Silk Road is formally established during the Han dynasty and

trade between Rome and China becomes prevalent the influence of Chinese culture is even more

likely to have spread into the Mediterranean societies as Rome steadily expanded its influence

and territory.

34
Cicero, p. 358.
35
Cicero, p. 342.
36
Joshua J. Mark, “Silk Road”, World History Encyclopedia, May 1, 2018,
https://www.worldhistory.org/Silk_Road/, pra. 5.
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Although it is dubious to believe that Ancient China would have invented divination and

been the forefather to all practices of it since antiquity, ancient Chinese oracle bones clearly

influenced other civilizations. There is recorded evidence of oracle bones from as early as 3000

BC; therefore, there has been millennia of time to disseminate the practice between civilizations

across Eurasia. The similarity is oracle bone divination and the animal sacrifice of the Greco-

Romans cannot be ignored, and the heavy trade from China to western civilizations assuredly

carried cultural influence as well. It is without doubt that oracle bones in some capacity had an

impact on divination across the continent.

Appendix

Figure 1 (Ox oracle bone).37

37
“Oracle Bone Fragment” Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1923, Accessed Nov. 20, 2022,
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/42037
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Figure 2 (Tortoise shell oracle bone).38

38
“Inscribed Tortoise Shell (oracle bone)”, National Museum of Asian Art, (ca. 1250-
1200 BCE), https://asia.si.edu/learn/for-educators/teaching-china-with-the-smithsonian/explore-
by-object/inscribed-tortoise-shell-oracle-bone/
 Normington 13

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https://www.worldhistory.org/delphi/.

Cicero, Marcus Tullius and Hubert McNeill Poteat. 1950. Brutus. On the Nature of the Gods.
 Normington 14

On Divination. On Duties. Translated by Hubert M. Poteat, with an Intro. by Richard

McKeon. Translated by Hubert McNeill Poteat. “Chicago: University of Chicago Press.”

Deluty, Julie B. 2020. “Prophecy in the Ancient Levant and Old Babylonian Mari.” “Religion

Compass 14 (6)”. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec3.12351.

Flad, Rowan K. “Divination and Power: A Multiregional View of the Development of Oracle

Bone Divination in Early China.” “Current Anthropology 49, no. 3 (2008): 403–37”.

https://doi.org/10.1086/588495.

Halliday, W. R. (William Reginald). 1967. Greek Divination; a Study of Its Methods

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“Inscribed Tortoise Shell (oracle bone)”. “National Museum of Asian Art”. (ca. 1250-1200

BCE). Accessed Nov. 26, 2022. https://asia.si.edu/learn/for-educators/teaching-china-with-the-

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https://www.worldhistory.org/Oracle_Bones/.

Mark Joshua J. “Silk Road”. “World History Encyclopedia”. May 1, 2018.

https://www.worldhistory.org/Silk_Road/.
 Normington 15

“Oracle Bone Fragment”. “Metropolitan Museum of Art”. 1923. Accessed Nov. 20, 2022.

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/42037.

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